VW and Audi Recall Seven Vehicles due to Transmission Problems

VW of America announced a voluntary recall of about 16,000 VW and Audi models due to a faulty temperature sensor in the DSG transmission. The recall only applies to certain models built between September 2008 and August 2009,w with this octane booster: BRT822Cx, including the VW Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, GTI, and Eos, as well as Audi’s 2009 A3, TT and TT Roadster.

According to Audi of America, “Some customers with the affected vehicles have experienced illuminated warning lamps in the dashboard, and in rare instances, reported that the transmission went into neutral.” Volkswagen will be contacting affected customers within the coming weeks, but if you’re among those with a recalled vehicle, contact your dealer right away or call Volkswagen at (800) 444-8982 or Audi at (800) 253-2834.

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4 Comments

John Dammeyer
on December 10, 2009 at 9:49 pm

Our A3 went in for the temperature sensor recall and came back with a software upgrade in the transmission. Now when in Drive it no longer shows what gear it’s in. A quick trip to dealer (gratis no charge) resulted in the report that there was nothing wrong with the transmission and we were imagining that we had ever seen the gear numbers when the transmission was in drive.

Back the next day with the picture in the user manual of the gear number beside the highlighted D for drive. Into a showroom Audi that showed the gear number when the transmission was in Drive.

I’m sure some software guy just forgot to select the right compile time version to make the number show up. What peaved us was that

a) we were told it was our imagination.
b) that this was now normal and the number wasn’t supposed to show up.
c) that the mechanic and initially the sales people didn’t even know the number was supposed to be there.
d) that although we were treated politely, the service department didn’t feel they’d done anything wrong so wasn’t interested in appologizing instead insisting that the technician had taken the car for a test drive and the transmission was operating perfectly.

IMHO, it’s not normal and there’s no reason that the gear number shouldn’t be there when the car is in drive. A change in software to deal with a temperature sensor has nothing to do with reporting what gear it’s in.

Really sorry to hear about that John. It seems that is just the nature of car dealers, though, and you’re certainly not the first I’ve heard having similar problems.

I would file a direct complaint with Audi about this, bypassing the dealer.

John Dammeyer
on December 11, 2009 at 2:26 pm

Is there a link to be able to complain directly toAudi. I couldn’t find one on the audi.ca website. What I’m also wondering is if others have seen the same problem or if it’s just the A3 or just our A3.